Wait For The Other Shoe To Drop

April 11, 1986

Consider it in terms of Imelda Marcos` shoes. Everyone`s heard of Imelda`s shoes. She owned 3,000 pairs of shoes--unless she has started shopping again in Hawaii, in which case these calculations will be slightly off.

It would take nearly 693 million Imeldas--692,900,000 to be exact--each owning 3,000 pairs of shoes, to equal the United States national debt as of eight days ago.

This, much like the shoes, is a milestone of sorts--amazing but not really something one would point to with pride.

For the first time in history, the national debt exceeded $2 trillion last Thursday. This was duly noted and promptly ignored by most people, other than some who might have wondered at exactly what point in the day the magic number was reached and who bought what to put this country over the top.

Th $2 trillion and change is the most money the United States has ever owed; but not to worry, that record won`t last long. There is, after all, a tad over $70 billion still to be spent before the current ``This time we`re not kidding, we really mean it`` debt ceiling is reached.

That ceiling--$2,078,700,000,000--was supposed to last until the end of the government`s fiscal year Sept. 30. But at the rate everyone is spending, it promises to be reached long before then.

Then the fun will begin.

Last December, when the ceiling was raised to its current lofty height, it got through Congress only after being coupled with a measure demanding a balanced budget by 1991. This also was the birth of Gramm-Rudman-Hollings, which since has become nearly as famous as Imelda`s shoes.

As of 1870, the national debt stood at a little under $2.5 billion, $61.06 per person or the equivalent of 812,118 Imeldas. The current national debt is double what it was five years ago. Since the end of 1973, the ceiling has been raised two dozen times.

But, according to Gramm-Rudman-Hollings, which requires enough in federal budget cuts every year to reach that balanced budget target, this is it, folks. The sky is no longer the limit. No more shoes.